Understanding dwell times using automatic passenger count data: A quantile regression approach
Ruben Kuipers, Journal of Rail Transport Planning & Management, Volume 29, March 2024
Highlights:
Study shows the use of quantile regression to study dwell times.
The role of passenger flow characteristics and operational factors on dwell times is studied.
The volume of boarding passengers is shown to not be the main determining factor for dwell times
The importance to account for station-specific characteristics when scheduling dwell times is shown.
Accurately scheduling dwell times is vital to ensure punctual and reliable railway services, but the stochastic nature of dwell times makes this a non-trivial task. An important step towards scheduling accurate dwell times is to gain an in-depth understanding of the mechanics that influence dwell times, which is commonly done by modelling the mean dwell time. It is, however, of more interest to understand the conditional distribution of dwell times. The study presented here proposes the use of quantile regression to study the conditional distribution of dwell times at different percentile. To do so, a year's worth of highly detailed train operation and passenger count data is used. The results indicate that the use of quantile regression over ordinary least squares regression is justifiable and beneficial. Numerical examples show the importance of arrival punctuality on dwell times, whereas the effect of the volume of boarding passengers at the critical door is limited. The results of the model presented here can help steer the discourse towards scheduling dwell times that more accurately reflect the actual situation by taking station-specific parameters into account. Doing so will help to increase the punctuality of railways and with it the attractiveness and effectiveness of railways.
Integrate, not compete! On Potential Integration of Demand Responsive Transport Into Public Transport Network
Sergei Dytckov, Paul Davidsson & Jan A. Persson, 26th IEEE International Conference on Intelligent Transportation Systems, 2023,
On-demand transport services are often envisioned as stand-alone modes or as a replacement for conventional public transport modes. This leads to a comparison of service efficiencies, or direct competition for passengers between them. The results of this work point to the positive effects of the inclusion of DRT into the public transport network. We simulate a day of operation of a DRT service in a rural area and demonstrate that a DRT system that focuses on increasing accessibility for travellers with poor public transport access can be quite efficient, especially for reducing environmental impact. We show that DRT, while it produces more vehicle kilometres than private cars would inside the DRT operating zone, can help to reduce the vehicle kilometres travelled for long-distance trips. The results of this study indicate the need for a more systemic evaluation of the impact of the new mobility modes.
Strategic Planning Capacities in a Time of Platformisation
Kelsey Oldbury & Karolina Isaksson, Nordic Journal of Urban Studies, December 2023
The influx of digital platforms into the mobility sector has created a myriad of new forms of mobility services in urban transport. The proliferation of digital platforms raises questions regarding public actors’ strategic planning capacities in times of platformisation. In this paper, focus is directed towards Mobility-as-a-Service (MaaS) as an example of platformisation taking place in a setting where public actors have (in theory) had an opportunity to influence platform developments in relation to urban and mobility planning. Based on qualitative research into a pilot project for MaaS in the Stockholm region, the aim of this paper is to provide insights into the relationship between platformisation and strategic planning. More specifically, we discuss how local and regional organisations with responsibilities for urban transport and land-use planning navigate and respond to the ongoing platformisation of urban mobility, from a strategic planning perspective. The analysis shows that local and regional planning actors generally frame the MaaS platform as beyond their sphere of responsibility. Consequently, there is a risk that public actors do not respond to the central governance and planning dilemmas that platformisation poses. Our findings also suggest that working with platforms through the lens of a pilot project forefronts practical questions of implementation over long-term strategic planning questions.
Artificial intelligence for improving public transport: a mapping study
Åse Jevinger, Chunli Zhao, Jan Persson & Paul Davidsson, Public Transport, July 2023
The objective of this study is to provide a better understanding of the potential of using Artificial Intelligence (AI) to improve Public Transport (PT), by reviewing research literature. The selection process resulted in 87 scientific publications constituting a sample of how AI has been applied to improve PT. The review shows that the primary aims of using AI are to improve the service quality or to better understand traveller behaviour. Train and bus are the dominant modes of transport investigated. Furthermore, AI is mainly used for three tasks; the most frequent one is prediction, followed by an estimation of the current state, and resource allocation, including planning and scheduling. Only two studies concern automation; all the others provide different kinds of decision support for travellers, PT operators, PT planners, or municipalities. Most of the reviewed AI solutions require significant amounts of data related to the travellers and the PT system. Machine learning is the most frequently used AI technology, with some studies applying reasoning or heuristic search techniques. We conclude that there still remains a great potential of using AI to improve PT waiting to be explored, but that there are also some challenges that need to be considered. They are often related to data, e.g., that large datasets of high quality are needed, that substantial resources and time are needed to pre-process the data, or that the data compromise personal privacy. Further research is needed about how to handle these issues efficiently.
Delivering Transit Oriented Development (TOD) in low to medium density contexts. Actor relationships and market conditions in smaller Swedish cities
Robert Hrelja & Tom Rye, International Journal of Sustainable Transportation, November 2023
This article analyses actor relationships in Transit Oriented Development (TOD) planning in order to better understand the preconditions necessary for planning processes to result in TOD in lower density contexts, in suburbs, or small cities. Empirically, the analysis builds on a comparative case study of TOD planning projects. The focus in the analytical work is on understanding how market conditions in lower density contexts influence the conditions for TOD planning projects, and how this feeds through to planning processes. The overall conclusion is that we should not expect that planning processes in small cities with low to medium densities of populations and activities differ much from those in more ‘classic’ highly urban TOD locations. Market conditions had an impact on planning processes, but once in the planning stage conditions for implementation depended more on the ability to handle competing interests and less on market conditions. In terms of policy recommendations, it is important for actors to develop a joint vision of the built environment of the site in question that channels organizations’ individual actions in a joint direction. The ability to achieve such a joint vision for the design of the site in question may be more important in small towns than in more ‘typical’ TOD contexts in denser urban areas. This is because all enablers need to work together in a positive way in such location – which may be marginal from a market point of view – for the development to be able to go ahead.
Railway maintenance windows: Discrepancies between planning and practice in Sweden
Daria Ivina & Carl-William Palmqvist, Transportation Research Interdisciplinary Perspectives, November 2023
Efficient and timely maintenance is essential for the robust operation of infrastructure across all types of transport. In the railway sector, track maintenance presents unique challenges. Specifically, some maintenance tasks require track closures, which can disrupt train schedules. Coordinating these closures with regular train operations makes the scheduling process complicated. To ensure sufficient time for maintenance and prevent conflicts with train operations, the Swedish Transport Administration introduced “maintenance windows.” Maintenance windows, ranging from two to six hours, are periods designated for maintenance, with the track free from train operations. They are set before finalizing the annual train timetable. In this study, we examined the practical application of maintenance windows on a railway line in Southern Sweden from 2019 to 2020. Our findings reveal that while 10% of the total line capacity was allocated for maintenance windows, 11% of the capacity was used for maintenance. Alarmingly, 68% of trackwork occurred outside maintenance windows, and only 34% of the reserved maintenance window capacity was utilized. There is a significant discrepancy between the time and location reserved for maintenance windows and their actual utilization. To address this, we propose aligning maintenance windows more closely with contractor needs by 1) incorporating maintenance windows on the weekends, 2) making maintenance windows available closer to the end of the planning horizon, 3) extending the duration of some maintenance windows, and 4) designing and integrating incentives to encourage contractors to operate within planned maintenance windows.
Social impact assessments (SIA) in larger infrastructure investments in Sweden; the view of experts and practitioners
Vanessa Stjernborg, Impact Assessment and Project Appraisal, September 2023
This paper, by highlighting the experiences and reflections of experts and practitioners, aims to increase knowledge of how social impact assessment is managed and handled at various stages of the planning process in major infrastructure investments in Sweden. Interviews were conducted with nine experts and practitioners working with issues of transport planning and social sustainability. The informants represent the national and regional level and three established consultancies. The results largely confirm earlier research, and the area of social impacts assessment in transport planning in Sweden can be seen as being fragmented. Many fundamental issues in the field remain to be addressed for future development, including issues such as public procurement, the role (and competence) of the client, the role (and competence) of the practitioner, how SIA should be included in the whole planning process taking into account the different stages (including how the SIA should be documented, delivered and monitored), how methods should be managed and included, and how the genuine experts should be included, i.e. those living and working in the affected areas.
Factors that make public transport systems attractive: a review of travel preferences and travel mode choices
Jessica Göransson & Henrik Andersson, European Transport Research Review, September 2023
Many regions worldwide are struggling to create a mode shift from private cars to more sustainable transport modes. While there are many reviews regarding travellers’ preferences and travel mode choices, there is a lack of an updated review that provides a comprehensive overview of the factors that make public transport systems attractive.
This review aims to fill the knowledge gap by offering insights into the factors influencing travel behaviour and the demand for public transport. It has two primary objectives:
Summarize general conclusions drawn from international literature reviews.
Present specific insights on the topic pertaining to the Nordic countries.
The findings show that reliability and frequency are important factors for creating an attractive public transport supply. However, there is only limited evidence regarding the impact of improvements in these attributes on public transport demand, so this needs more research. This review highlights the importance of understanding the underlying motivations for travel mode choice and provides recommendations on areas for further investigation to understand the attractiveness of public transport supply.
Spatiotemporal heterogeneity of the shared e-scooter–public transport relationships in Stockholm and Helsinki
Zijian Guo, Jian Liu, Pengxiang Zhao, Aoyong Li & Xintao Liu, Transportation Research Part D: Transport and Environment, September 2023
Although shared e-scooters have displayed both complementary and competitive relationships with public transport, less attention has been paid to investigating the spatiotemporal variations of such relationships, and how the relationships are associated with the urban built environment. To bridge the gaps, we first explore the spatiotemporal heterogeneity of such relationships by conducting a comparative study of Stockholm and Helsinki based on the empirical data. Then, an explainable AI method is applied to examine the associations between the relationships and built environment. We found that Helsinki presents higher ratios of the competitive dominant areas (DPET) compared with Stockholm showing higher ratios of the complementary dominant areas (DPLE). The correlation analysis results indicate that the distance-to-public-transport is associated with DPET in two cities. Some factors present a non-linear effect, e.g., the density-of-the-population, etc. This study is beneficial for the better integration of shared e-scooters and public transport towards sustainable urban mobility systems.
Lina Berglund-Snodgrass, Mats Fred & Dalia Mukhtar-Landgren, disP - The Planning Review, September 2023
Innovation platforms are new collaborative organisations in the urban development context that aim to support innovation. They assemble different organisations and actors and act as flexible intermediary links between the same. By being intrinsically flexible and adaptable in form and function, the innovation platform can be seen as an organisational accomplishment or enactment of adaptive planning. Central to adaptive planning is the balance between organisational flexibility and stability, which is also intrinsic to any public innovation work. Public sector innovations are often perceived to require open and experimental trial and error strategies – while their institutional setting simultaneously requires stability. The aim of this article is to analyse how individuals working in innovation platforms make sense of their organisation at the intersection of adaptability and stability. We describe the tension between adaptability and stability inherent to innovation platforms, as the platforms are set to facilitate relationships between actors while maintaining their role as an independent organisation. This article is based on an in-depth multiple-case study of 15 innovation platforms in the Nordic countries, consisting of interviews with representatives, as well as extensive desktop material and participant observations. By adopting an organisational and sense-making perspective, we analyse how people working in platforms enact their organisations and their environment through processes of belief and action-driven sense-making. We conclude that despite innovation platforms’ strong advocacy – and sense-making – in terms of adaptability and chameleon-like characteristics, stability is enacted through making sense of themselves as a legitimate and necessary position/node in urban planning and development.
